Happy New Year!

Dear family and friends,

As I reflect on 2019 and consider the joys, sorrows, and life lessons of this year, I am reminded once again of the faithfulness of God and the peace that comes from making the choice daily to "do the right thing," as Anna from Frozen II would say. There's a little phone game I like the play sometimes, and in the game you are hiking through the woods and everything is foggy and you can't see where you're going. But as you step forward, the path becomes clear before you. That's what life so often feels like!

2019 brought many exciting new changes to the TJ Greer family. In January TJ and I started a home business, a long time dream come true for both of us! I discovered that I could get a license for my kitchen online, TJ built a website for me in an afternoon, and we launched Palo Duro Bakery that weekend. It has been a huge hit and success in our community, and our cinnamon rolls have become famous throughout Texas and even out of state visitors come to sample the goods! We were at every local Farmer's Market this summer and sold out almost every time. I love working with my little family, and although I still handle the majority of the baking end (while TJ is a whiz and a genius on the selling end) the girls are able to help too and they love it!

February brought us the exciting adventure of becoming homeowners for the first time. After seven months of hard work on our part and stalling and red tape on the part of the inspectors, we finally signed the paperwork that made us official owners of a piece of God's green earth. We bought the house we've been living in and working on for two years, and Uncle Glayde and Aunt Debbie were so amazing and supportive throughout the agonizing process! Our first project after that was to replace the fence around the property so the girls could play in the backyard safely. They love to play back there and we made a garden together this summer for the first time, harvesting many tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchini!

In March we discovered that we were expecting a baby, and we were over the moon with joy and excitement. The girls talked daily about the "baby in Mommy's tummy" and we were discussing baby names and looking up doctor and midwife options in our area. June 26th our baby passed into the arms of Jesus at around 13 weeks, and we were devastated. July we found to our surprise that I was expecting again, and September I experienced another miscarriage. God only knows the reason--the doctors said that everything is normal and there is nothing to worry about. Dealing with grief is something I am quite familiar with, and helping the girls walk through the process was more difficult than doing it ourselves. "Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will not fear for You are with me." Psalm 23

We had a wonderful summer filled with many trips to the local water park on hot days, tending the garden, jumping on the trampoline a friend gave us, and working hard at the Farmer's Market. In July TJ was called up by the local branch of IBEW and offered a job at Pantex, a large facility nearby with an excellent reputation for taking good care of their employees. This meant some schedule changes for our family but so far he has been very happy with the new things he is learning and the direction his career has taken. Dreams coming true all over the place! TJ was also baptized this summer at Hillside Church by Uncle Glayde.

I quit working for the WT maintenance department in February and started an exciting new job as a preschool teacher at First United Methodist church, and my class of one and two year olds is as precious as you can imagine! I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to build community and learn oodles about educating children, building a foundation for my own two girls as well as myself towards the dream of education at home. We've gotten to know Bella's and Lizzy's teachers fairly well and I am so happy that my daughters have the influence of those excellent ladies in their lives. I've noticed that training them myself at home has become easier with the constant reinforcement they get at school, which aligns with most of our values and desires for their education.

Isabella turned 4 in September and she is such a joy in the life of everyone who knows her! She attends classes in gymnastics just down the road from us, and ballet class at school with Impact Expressions. She does very well at both, and has her first recital coming up in April! Her joy in life and love for Jesus bubbles out of her sensitive spirit and she understands and takes interest in spiritual things. She loves to open books and "read", and has memorized a number of books. She's also a big movie buff and her favorite movies involve superheroes or princesses.

Our Elizabeth "Lizzy" also loves superheroes and animals, and pretends to be a dinosaur or a puppy on a regular basis. She says she wants to be "strom" (strong!) and punch things, and we are guiding her in the direction of not punching people--which isn't hard because her big loving heart makes friends of everyone she meets. She turned 3 in November and it's amazing how different the girls are even though they're the same size and very close in age. Lizzy still enjoys being the baby of the family, although she is growing very independent and likes to "do it myself!" She likes numbers and letters and enjoys her big sister "reading" to her the books that they've memorized.

Both girls love music and singing, playing with friends, going to church, and going to Glayde and Debbie's house every Thursday. They loved visiting the Wichita Zoo on our little Memorial Day family vacation, riding tractors on the old family farm in Kansas, and seeing our good friends the Jacks again! They are both learning to swim and this summer the triumph was to put one's face under water and kick one's feet, which they do with gusto and enthusiasm. "Look Mommy Daddy I can go under!!"

My parents and one of my sisters drove out from California to see us in October and it was so nice to see them again. We took them to our local zoo and pumpkin patch, and enjoyed just hanging out and eating good food.

Although this year couldn't be wrapped up and tied with a neat bow, God continues to be faithful through the mess and challenge us in our thinking in ways we could never imagine. We are so blessed this Christmas in so many ways we can't even count, and we hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year! Hurrah for 2020!

Love,

TJ, Jenna, Bella, and Lizzy Greer